Retired from the University of Texas and too old to play soccer anymore. Now, in the twilight of his years, time is spent writing in this blog, hiking and exploring Texas Parks, photography, working out, gardening and tending to the five ponds he built .

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One Man’s Story – Chapter 12

The next morning, I awoke and lay there for a while thinking of the previous evening and what, if anything, I should read into it. Jody was still asleep laying on her side and turned away from me.

I sighed and got up with absolutely no idea how I was going to handle this. For the time being, I decided I would let things slide and not say or do anything. What really bothered me was that I was not too upset and I should have been. Had our relationship deteriorated so much that me suspecting that Jody may be having an affair which should have been troubling was in fact viewed as a licence for me to do the same thing? Goodness only knows, my thoughts had been going in that direction recently with both Valerie Black and Louisa Johnston and even the girls at the Bar, Rachel and Elizabeth were beginning to look more attractive.

I was sitting at the table drinking coffee and perusing the morning paper when Jody came down. “Coffee” I asked “Yes please. You making breakfast”? I thought about for a minute and said “OK, what do you want. How about poached eggs on toast” “That sounds exactly what I want” said Jody. She came over to where I was sitting and put her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. “What’s that for”? I exclaimed as she moved away “Can’t a girl kiss her husband if she feels like it”? she said. “Of course but it usually means you want something. What is it”? I looked at her. She was still a beautiful woman and had worked really hard to keep her shape. In a way, I was not a bit surprised that she might have other interests as I was so busy most of the time running the business that I really didn’t spend enough time with her and in all probability, she was bored and was looking around for some excitement.

I got up to cook the breakfast which she seemed to enjoy more than usual. “Thanks. What have you going on today”? I thought about all of the things I could do. It was Saturday and usually, I spent time in the office either working on estimates or making phone calls or both. There were a couple of things that I really needed to do but I could let the rest slide until Monday. “I have a couple of hours work at the office but am free after that” I said. “There is this big Horticultural Show in Johnstown that I really would like to see” she said. I thought about it and said “OK, I will be through by 10:00 am and will come back to pick you up. Is that a deal”?

I left the house and went to the Office and worked on the stuff that I needed by Monday. I made a couple of calls and then locked up the office and headed home.

The Horticultural Show was very interesting. I have a side of me that was interested in gardening but generally, I just didn’t have the time to fit it in to my schedule. When I did have the time, it was winter and the garden was under a couple of feet of snow. What I didn’t realize was that the Horticultural Show also included a horse show with equestrian events like jumping. I wandered over to watch the horses admiring the grace and ability to make those jumps and my thoughts turned to Valerie and wondered if she entered these sort of events. Right on cue, the announcer said, “The next rider is Valerie Black riding her horse Dewdrop”. My immediate reaction was, “What sort of name for a horse is Dewdrop and Oh my goodness, Valerie is here”.

I knew that she wouldn’t have expected me to be at one of her shows and the fact that I was is just chance. She hadn’t mentioned nor had I inquired about her weekend activities as our relationship or maybe I should say, our casual friendship which amounted to a single kiss had not progressed to our private activities. Jody found me and exclaimed, “Isn’t that Mrs Black out there competing”? “Really” I said, “I hadn’t been paying attention and didn’t notice but yes, it does look like her”. Mrs Black finished her round to a smattering of applause and trotted back to the assembly ring to await her next event. Jody said, “Lets go and say Hello. I’m sure that Mrs Black would appreciate knowing that someone is cheering her on”. I tried to make an excuse for not going over to the ring but by then Jody was already in front of me and was making a bee line for Mrs Black who had just dismounted and was patting her horse on the nose. “Mrs Black” exclaimed Jody, “We watched your round and it appeared flawless. Great riding. I’m Jody Morris and you know my husband Bob“. She stuck out her hand and Mrs Black shook it briefly and I said hello to her. Jody and Valerie chatted for a bit and I sort of hung around on the outskirts putting in an occasional yes and no. After ten minutes or so, Mrs Black said that she needed to attend to her horse as that was her last round of the day and “Bye the way, why not stop over for drinks later this evening around 8:00 pm”. I looked at Jody as she said that would be wonderful and we will see you then. I smiled at Valerie and caught her eye but she just smiled back and gave me a look as though to say, “How are you going to handle this one, lover boy”.